


Skin Stars and Black Holes

by masteremeraldholder, purplecrystalgem



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drunk Coran, Humor, M/M, also hints of thick keith, drunk coran is the best coran, enough fluff to kill, hints of klunk and shallura, keith has a buttload freckles, too many references to name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 21:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8550571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masteremeraldholder/pseuds/masteremeraldholder, https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplecrystalgem/pseuds/purplecrystalgem
Summary: "You've got skin stars." Lance whispered.Keith blushed. "What?""Skin stars." Lance leaned in again, having found a new patch of freckles.Keith gets more than too many freckles after running laps in the hot sun all day which drives Lance, because how can one person have so many? Lance is practically obsessed with the golden spots and just won't leave Keith alone. It isn't Lance's fault that Keith's skin is so alluring.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so this basically started as a simple RP and quickly took on a life of its own and we hope ya'll enjoy!!! ;3

They'd recently had an outdoor training exercise. Allura (and Shiro, he had to have been in on it) had them running laps in the midday heat under the third sun of the _Gonthorn System_. The scorching sunlight had done many things to the Paladins (sun-burn, a close run with a heatstroke, dehydration, etc.), but the most positive outcome by far was the tons of freckles (even more than usual) the sun had set off across Keith's body.  
  
As Lance studied his boyfriend now, he realized they (the freckles) were all over his face, trailing from his forehead past his eyebrows and slight nose down to his lips. Clusters of the little brown specks were under his chin and all over his creamy, pale collarbone. There were even some on his neck. They seemed to glow against his skin.  
  
Lance had never seen anything more innocently beautiful. And Keith didn't even know that Lance was staring at him which made it even more innocent. His eyes were closed. Long, dark lashes lay delicately against his cheeks. He was breathing softly, his lips pursed subtly. Lance felt like he was in the presence of a heavenly being (a freckly angel) and if he stared at Keith any longer he'd break out in tears (which was weird, he'd never felt like this before).  
  
Lance found himself leaning in until his lips were ghosting over a pile of freckles on Keith's jaw. And when his lips made contact with the golden spots, they were met with a stinging sensation.  
  
Keith stirred from his half-conscious state when he felt something warm on his jaw. His eyes fluttered open to see his boyfriend sitting next to him on the couch.  
  
Lance was giving him a really weird look, almost as if he were about to cry. He didn't know what was wrong or if he had done something to hurt Lance, so he scooted closer to him and grabbed his sweaty hand.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothin'." Lance gave a small smile before he closed the space between them, pressing kisses to the freckle infested areas of Keith's face. His forehead and brow then his nose and cheeks and chin.  
  
Lance would've surely suffocated the pale boy if he didn't have to come up for air. When he did, Keith looked like he wanted strangle Lance.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"You've got skin stars." Lance whispered.  
  
Keith blushed. "What?"  
  
"Skin stars." Lance leaned in again, having found a new patch of freckles. They were right beside Keith's earlobe. Lance zoned in on the specks, kissing them gently.  
  
When Lance leaned away again, Keith gave him a confused look. "Lance..."  
  
The tan boy took Keith's other hand in his. He was practically starry-eyed. "Hm?"  
  
"Are you high?"  
  
"W-what? No! Why would you say that?" Lance stammered.  
  
There was nothing (that he knew of) in the Castle of Lions that could be used to get one ‘high’. And Lance had locked all previous memories of ‘getting high’ in the deepest, darkest crevice of his mind, never to be thought of again (High school was a dark time for him). Besides, what Keith didn't know wouldn't kill him.  
  
Keith shrugged. "I don't know... You're just being really clingy today. Did I do something to you?"  
  
'The sun did.' is what Lance wanted to say, but he wasn't sure how credible a statement that was (the sun could do a lot of things. Hence the killer burn Lance had on his neck).  
  
"No!" Lance shook his head. "You're fine." For some reason, Keith was adamant on making something his fault. Lance wasn't really sure why.  
  
"Then stop lookin' at me like that." Keith said. "It's creepy."  
  
Lance didn't know what his face looked like (though that'd be awesome, he wouldn't have to spend hours in front of a mirror trying to perfect his already immaculate face), so tried to make it void of expression. He couldn't.  
  
"Sorry." Lance cracked a small grin. "I can't." He leaned back towards his boyfriend, their noses _booped_ together. Thin lips were hovering over full ones as he admired Keith's face up close. It was even more magnificent. Lance was so close he could practically feel the warmth emitting from the pale boy.  
  
Two sets of eyes fluttered closed and both leaned into the other until their lips were flush against one another. Lance swore he felt a small zap when their lips met, like a current of electricity had been complete.  
  
Eventually they had to part for a breath, and when they did, Lance swore he saw stars in Keith's eyes (he was obviously awestruck from Lance being the master of romance). He looked so pure and perfect, like an angel or some kind of celestial being, (could angels be broody emos?) and Lance had the sudden urge to tell him how he felt.  
  
"You're so gorgeous..."  
  
Keith stared at him blankly, like he hadn't heard what Lance said, before he smiled and broke out in a fit of giggles. His laugh was actually nice to hear; it was low and rich and made Lance want to laugh too. But he didn't. He was really confused. Lance had just laid some sappy junk on him and he was laughing?  
  
"Why are you laughing?"  
  
After he had stopped his giggle fest, Keith unlaced their fingers and moved Lance's hands to his curvy waist, and moved his own hands to Lance's shoulders. His expression hardened a bit before he spoke.  
  
"Because, you're the first person to ever tell me that. I mean, I know I'm a lot of things, but gorgeous has never been a word to describe me."  
  
Lance just gawked at him. Keith. The epitome of beauty is telling him that no one has ever called him gorgeous. Lance thought long for a response to Keith's very vague comment. When he couldn't think of one, he did what he always did. Grin. Keith softly smiled back at him. Then the shorter boy leaned in close to Lance, so close that Lance could practically count the 'skin stars' on his cheeks.  
  
"And so are you..."  Keith whispered. Then he gently kissed the mole under Lance's right eye.  
  
Lance's senses seemed to become heightened from that simple gesture. He could smell the sweet scent of Keith's shampoo and he could feel Keith's generous hips under his fingertips and Keith's soft lips as they trailed down his cheek.  
  
Keith pulled away a bit and studied the tan boy before him. The dark blot under his eye was practically alluring. Why was it so captivating? It was just a cluster of melanin under his skin. The science behind it was so simple yet it was so intricate to Keith. He often felt like the dark mark sucked him in (literally consumed him) and once it did, it wouldn't let him back out. Like a hole.  
  
"Skin stars..." Keith mumbled. "I've got stars and you've got... black holes."  
  
Lance could barely understand the concept of black holes already (he barely passed Astronomy. Barely. And ironic enough, he loved space, but he just didn't understand it. Maybe that was what made him love it so much) without Keith coming in and making it more difficult for him.  
  
Keith had to be talking out of his head, Lance realized. He smiled though. Keith's babbling was always cute to him.  
  
"Nerd." He said.  
  
Keith was either too busy admiring Lance's skin or chose to ignore the statement, he didn't even react. He was steadily examining Lance's skin, unearthing new moles every moment (as it turned out, he had multiple smaller ones other than the prominent one under his eye). Keith's lips were grazing over the sensitive skin which was making Lance squirm, but he didn't even notice.  
  
He eventually made it down to another prominent mole, right under the collar of Lance's shirt and Keith decided then that he liked this one better than the other one already (which was a little vain).  
  
He planted several small kisses to the ‘black hole’ and Lance exhaled shakily above him, his grip tightened around Keith's waist.  
  
Once he finished kissing the black holes, Keith's full lips ghosted up Lance's slender neck (it reminded him of a swan) and back to his lips. Lance hesitated for only a second more before he tilted his head and leaned into the kiss.  
  
Keith moved his arms to wrap around Lance's neck and parted his lips slightly over the tan boy's. Before Lance can stop himself, his tongue is in Keith's mouth, moving against his greedily. Lance is vaguely aware of someone else mumbling in the room, but he was to dizzy to care about that now.  
  
Instead, he slipped his clammy hands under Keith's shirt and rested them on his bare, plump waist. Keith's own fingers twist gently in the hairs at the nape of Lance’s neck, then they’re gliding over his cheeks, then ghosting down the front of his shirt. A shiver runs down Lance's spine.  
  
"Ahem!"  
  
They both pull away briefly and glance to the doorway where the voice came from.  
  
It was Coran.  
  
Lance's mind hasn't quite registered this, so he gives a small shrug and leans back towards Keith's lips. He only realizes that there's an extra person in the room when Keith starts beating on his chest to let him go. The pain goes directly to his brain (and chest which is now throbbing from Keith's hammer hands) as Lance now puts two and two together and whoa, there's Coran!  
  
There's a tangle of arms and legs pulling away from each other until they're both sitting an arm's length apart, quite conservatively too.  
  
A small laugh comes from Coran, who's twirling away at his mustache as usual (Lance was sure that one day he'd twirl and twirl and it'd eventually fall off). "Just thought I'd warn ya that the others are comin'. Not sure if you'd like to continue yer, um, business."  
  
Blushes rise to both paladins' cheeks and Lance clears his throat somewhat awkwardly.  
  
Coran thinks this is the funniest thing ever and slaps his leg and laughs (who even does this anymore). "Looked real entertainin', eh? Carry on!"  
  
"C-Coran!" Lance really shouldn't have said anything because his voice jumps on the last syllable. Keith cringes as his voice cracks.  
  
This only makes Coran laugh more. By the time the others come in, Coran is still _tee-heeing_ and Keith wants to throw a shoe at the old coot.  
  
"What's so funny?" Allura says, her hands on her hips.  
  
Coran clasps his hands behind his back and glances at the paladins. He probably would have said something shady (Lance had to explain what it meant) had Keith not been looking at him like he wanted to choke him to death. So, he kept his mouth shut and smiled innocently at Keith.  
  
"Nothing important." Keith answered monotonously.  
  
"Oh. Alright!" Allura nodded and smiled. Probably because she believed everything Keith said.  
  
Next, Hunk came through the doorway. He had his bangs pulled back with his headband and a towel draped around his neck. The only effect the sun had on Hunk was that it gave him a tan. His skin was a dark brown instead of its normal bronze color.  
  
If they hadn't been so worried that Coran would spill the beans, Lance and Keith both probably would've gawked at the yellow paladin's appearance (there was one thing the two could always agree on: Hunk was _very_ easy on the eyes). Keith averted his eyes, (he stole a couple of glances actually, he was weak, okay) hopefully not to give Coran something else to laugh about.  
  
Lance obviously didn't have sense God gave a Billy-goat because he gave Hunk a longing look and then smiled softly.  
  
"Ha!" Coran's Cheshire cat grin had resorted to a quivering hairy lip. He'd been watching everything, of course.  
  
Keith glared at Lance like he wanted to punt him clean across the room (if only he hadn't been worried about Coran dying from laughter) and Lance just blushed, avoiding eye contact.  
  
This made Coran just about scream.  
  
"Coran!" Allura walked over to him tentatively. "Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm... fine." He managed between giggles. "Not so sure about Lance, though."  
  
Lance looked at Coran, his cheeks red and his lips a perfect, thin line. Coran just burst out laughing again.  
  
"What's wrong with Lance?" Hunk asked, a worried look had come to his gorgeous face. He was so innocent at times.  
  
"Nothin'." Lance answered. "Coran's just bein' a _culo_."  
  
It was a good thing that Hunk was probably the only one who knew that Lance was calling Coran an ass (and that was only because he'd heard Lance say it too many times). Allura probably would've kicked _his ass_ for calling her advisor an ass.  
  
The last two members of team Voltron finally came in, moving at a snail's pace.  
  
Shiro (all six-foot-something of him) was like a gentle giant beside Pidge's diminutive form. His hand latched around their skinny bicep. He appeared to be guiding them. As the two got closer, everyone could see why.  
  
All the skin on Pidge's face that wasn't shielded by their glasses was about the shade of a freshly slapped baby's bottom, a drastic contrast from the pale, pasty skin behind their glasses. The red skin was dry and cracked, and overall yucky looking. It was obvious that Pidge had a bad case of sunburn.  
  
When they saw Pidge's face, everyone reacted differently. Hunk gasped and was genuinely upset, while Allura looked down at her feet, guiltily. Keith and Coran both grimaced silently and Lance, did what he did best. Laugh in a loud, nasally, annoying way.  
  
Shiro pursed his lips (this was a bad habit he had developed) and gave Lance a disapproving look. He was about to scold him when Pidge spoke up.  
  
"Shut. Up." They said through clenched teeth before hobbling down the steps to the couch and plopping down. A grimace of pain spread across their face. Lance snorted (his laugh was so hideous at times) at them.  
  
"Don't hurt yourself!" He sing-songed with a smirk. Even Hunk had to snicker at the _Beyoncé_ reference, though it went over everyone else's head.  
  
Shiro squeezed past Hunk and Coran, and even threw a pitiful look at Allura before he sat by Pidge and rested a comforting hand on their shoulder. Hunk shook his head before he nudged Allura's arm and nodded his head towards Pidge as if to say, 'Aren't you gonna say something?'  
  
Allura's eyes suddenly became the size of saucers as she shook her head, 'No'. Hunk frowned and nodded towards Pidge again. Allura shook her head once more, adamant in her stance of keeping mum.  
  
Coran gave a toothy smile as the two bickered silently using their hands and facial expressions as words. It almost brought him back to laughing.  
  
They probably would've continued 'arguing', but Pidge glanced up and to them, it looked like Hunk and Allura were doing some sort of weird dancing ritual with their hands.  
  
"Um?" Pidge said. "Are you guys okay?"  
  
Allura turned somewhat bewilderedly. "Pidge! We're fine." She gave Hunk a look and cleared her throat awkwardly. "But, I'd like to ask you the same. How are you?"  
  
"'M'fine." Pidge said and everyone could see it was a lie. They looked like poop, to be frank.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry for pushing you so hard. All of you."  
  
"It's fine, Allura. You've apologized three times."  
  
"I know. I'm just trying to make it clear to everyone..." She looked down and bit her lip.  
  
Everyone knew who she was referring to. Shiro. He'd been particularly upset (more like off the fricking wall) when Pidge had come up to him outside with their face looking like pickled pigs' feet. He almost lost his shit when he saw it.  
  
Lance sniggered into his hand. The shade and the tea was _so_ good.  
  
"What's so funny?" Shiro said dryly.  
  
A meek squeak was audible as Lance clamped his mouth shut after seeing the dangerous look on Shiro's face.  
  
"Nothing." Lance tried smiling (his _mamá_ always told him that his smile is what saved him from running his tactless mouth), he raised his eyes and all (trying to bring out his non-existent dimples), but Shiro's face didn't change.  
  
When he saw that it wasn't working, Lance frowned a little. His smile usually, most of the time, always worked. Why was Shiro being a hard-ass?  
  
And before Lance could stop his motormouth, it all spilled out. "Shiro, you took those laps like a Marine or somethin' without even breaking a sweat! I mean, you can't expect us all to be that fit, especially _Pidge_."  
  
Shiro opened his mouth to retaliate, but closed it after a tick. He couldn't argue with Lance there. So, he laced his fingers together and sat back. Pidge on the other hand spoke up. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" They snapped.  
  
Lance smiled sweetly. "Not to be rude but, Hunk ran more laps than you."  
  
Pidge shook their head and huffed in irritation. Lance just grinned again before he looked over at Hunk and saw that he was beaming too. “At least someone noticed.”  
  
Lance smiled back at him (how could he not?) and turned back to Shiro, who was the first to finish his laps. "And don't forget that everyone has side effects except _you_."  
  
"Wha—That is not true!"  
  
“So, you’re limping, sunburnt, or injured in any kind of way?” Lance could’ve been a lawyer from how he was ruthlessly calling Shiro on his shit. “I've got sunburn on _mi piel bonito_ and Hunk's got a tan, which isn't really all that bad, actually it's kinda hot, but that's besides the point,” Lance said it all so quickly and gulped in a breath that no one really had time to register what he'd said (except for Hunk, who blushed). "And I think we can all see Pidge's complication, come to think of it," Lance turned to Pidge, "you should know that your pasty ass needs some sunscreen or somethin'."  
  
"Lance!"  
  
"I mean, were they trying to get out of training? What. Is. The truth."  
  
Pidge opened their mouth to speak and closed it quickly. Then they nodded. "Alright, ya've got me. I did it to get out of running."  
  
Shiro looked practically hurt by the thought that Pidge would do such a thing (Shiro was blind as shit because everyone including Coran could see that Pidge was a dirty little manipulator). Pidge didn't look the slightest bit upset with the outcome of the situation.  
  
"The point is," Lance said, "everyone's suffering, I mean, even Keith got hurt." He pointed Keith, who looked exactly the same as he did every day: Slightly aloof and annoyed.  
  
"Ow." Keith turned and looked at Shiro, expressionless. "My leg."  
  
Shiro pursed his lips (for the second time in five minutes) and gave Keith a forlorn look.  
  
"And it looks like you have some more freckles." Hunk added politely. Keith looked down at his lap before his freckly cheeks turned bright red. Coran snigger into his gloved hand.  
  
Shiro took a deep breath and stood up slowly. He had a very tired expression on his face. "Okay. I am very sorry that all of you have these ailments, but I'm not going to sit here and be attacked. Especially by you, Lance."  
  
Lance sighed and didn't even try to hide his eye roll (Shiro had something against rolling of the eyes. The last time Lance had dared to roll his eyes at Shiro, he wound up with a wounded ego). He was saying something in Spanish (it was lightning fast too), but he wasn't necessarily trying to hide it. It was like a buzzing sound; low, but audible.  
  
The others (Hunk especially, who had a hand lazily over his mouth) could hardly believe that Lance was talking to Shiro in this manner (well, not really to him, but at him).  
  
Shiro turned, a placid expression on his face. "Say whatever you want to say, just don't let me hear it in English or I'm coming over there." His tone was firm. Shiro was _not_ playing.  
  
Coran broke out in laughs again, Allura watched him confused. She had never seen him act this way before (of course he had his moments, but he'd never been this goofy). Maybe the planet's atmosphere was affecting him.  
  
Hunk was shaking his head and even Keith gave a small smile. This did all but stop Lance, he only mumbled louder (Lance was an attention junkie). Keith had physically cover Lance's mouth with his hand to keep him from yakking.  
  
And during all of this Pidge's breathing was becoming more and more shallow and quick. Their eyes were shut and their cherry red face was screwed up into a look of discomfort, like they were experiencing an unbearable amount of pain. Their body was racked with convulsions.  
  
Shiro saw this and rushed back over. "Pidge? What's wrong?"  
  
They looked at Shiro, miffed. "I'm laughing."  
  
"Oh. Alright then." Shiro nodded his head in affirmative manner before he turned to leave again. He probably would have made it out of the room, but Lance was still muttering under his breath and this time Shiro could make out some of the words that Lance was saying.  
  
"This some bullshit." He mumbled.  
  
"Lance, shut up." Keith replied.  
  
Shiro sighed. It was obvious that Lance wouldn't stop acting like a brat unless he put his foot down.  He and turned to face Lance and then pressed the tip of his index finger to the tip of his thumb. "Lance... I am this close."  
  
Lance snorted. "Close to what?"  
  
"Beating your ass."  
  
Lance's face turned beet red. He didn't say anything, probably because Shiro had just embarrassed him. Instead, he looked as if he were in deep thought. (He was probably thinking about how many times he'd heard that from his _mamá_ ). The was room quiet, so much that you could hear a pin drop.  
  
"Now. I'll see you all at dinner." Shiro said casually. Then he turned for the final time and left the room.  
  
As soon as the door closed, they all burst out laughing (all except the victim: Lance). It was complete anarchy even with the Princess in the room; they were shouting and howling with laughter and it was a shame that Shiro wasn't in the room to witness the pure chaos.  
  
Coran was gripping his stomach to alleviate his belly spasms.  
  
"Coran." Allura giggled. "Get up!"  
  
Coran ignored the princess and laughed even louder. Allura shook her head.  
  
Lance was pouting (actually pouting), his lower lip was stuck out in a scowl and his skinny arms were crossed. If there was one thing Keith loved more than Lance's moles, it was teasing him. He saw this sour mood as an opportunity to annoy his boyfriend (and he always took them).  
  
"Told ya to be quiet, now you've got your feelings hurt." Keith nudged Lance's shoulder with a smirk. Lance took one look at his face (his beautiful, handsome face) and glowered.  
  
"Shut up." He mumbled and Keith laughed, his forehead falling against Lance's arm. Lance could feel his agitation dissipating just from Keith's smile and not to mention all of the laughter and cheerfulness surrounding him.  
  
"Why can't we all get along?" Hunk said between laughs.  
  
"Shiro cursed!" Even though Pidge's face looked a squashed-up strawberry, they still smiled (or did the best they could what with the stiffness of their face) happily. "I haven't heard him do it in forever!"  
  
Once the laughter started subsiding, Allura cleared her throat (like she always did when she was about to say something stuffy and serious).  
  
"Lance," She said, "perhaps you'll think next time before you open your mouth." And she grinned brightly like Lance had did to Shiro moments before. Lance grimaced. Allura's smile fell, she reciprocated the look to Lance before turning. "I suppose I'll go check on him."  
  
She glanced at Coran breathless, wheezing form. "Coran, please have some dignity."  
  
"I have my dignity, pride, the whole caboodle, but the question is, does Lance?"  
  
And they all burst out laughing again.  
  
"Ha-ha." Lance said stonily. "Guess I'm the butt of every joke today, then."  
  
"The butt, head, start, and finish." Coran smiled dopily.  
  
"Coran," Lance rubbed his temples, "you literally just repeated yourself, what are you talking about?"  
  
"Are you drunk?" Pidge smiled inquisitively.  
  
Coran just burst out laughing again and Allura snorted before leaving the room.  
  
"Okay!" Hunk strolled over to Pidge. "It's time for you to get your next treatment!”  
  
Pidge sighed dramatically. “This is my third time already!”  
  
Hunk smiled sweetly and offered Pidge his hand. "And your face looks a lot better already."  
  
After dealing with Shiro in his protective dad mode, Pidge honestly wasn't in the mood for someone else babying them around. Pidge looked at Hunk’s hand like it was trash (though he was far, far from trash) and stubbornly pushed it away. After a few ticks of struggling, they finally stood up and proceeded to walk stiffly up the steps and to the door.  
  
"Bye guys!" Hunk waved before he and Pidge exited the room. His smile was so intoxicating that Keith and Lance sat there blushing and grinning like idiots.  
  
Coran cranked back up with his goofy cackling and Keith was really contemplating on cursing Coran out, because all of that laughing had gave him a headache. Instead, he grabbed Lance by the wrist and walked briskly to the door, leaving a possibly drunk Coran to snigger in his lonesome.  


* * *

Lance stepped out of the steamy bathroom, toweling his hair dry. He'd taken a shower to calm his frazzled nerves and collect himself after the hell that had taken place earlier.  
  
Dinner was an adventure to say the least. It started out dead and quiet as a graveyard until Hunk couldn't take the awkwardness anymore and broke the uncomfortable silence.  
  
“How about that goo?” He asked. “Runny, slimy, and _gooey_ , eh?”  
  
Laughter soon filled the room and all tension evaporated. Soon, everyone was apologizing (Hunk even apologized and he hadn't done anything) and smiling and talking it up like nothing had even happened earlier.  
  
Lance smiled thinking about the pleasantness of the moment as he tossed the damp towel on the floor. It made him feel warm and fuzzy inside and he realized that even through the ups and downs, they were like his family (his wacky second family).  
  
He grabbed a tee out of his dresser, pulling it onto his scrawny body then slipped his feet into his slippers and turned, having completed his nightly ritual (exfoliating and all). Lance almost fainted from the sight before him.  
  
Keith was lying on the bed on his stomach reading, which was pretty normal, but he didn't have a shirt on.  
  
His pale back and arms were completely visible. They were snowy white despite being out in the sun all day. His cute butt was crammed into a pair of shorts, interrupting the expanse of milky skin, but it picked right back up under the shorts. His chunky legs looked like they could go on forever and ever.  
  
Lance sucked in a breath and flopped down on his tummy next to Keith. A loud and content sigh escaped his lips as he threw an arm over Keith's bare back.  
  
Keith hardly reacted, he didn't even look up from his book. Lance turned his head to look at his boyfriend. He was so engrossed in his weird little book that he didn't even notice Lance was staring him down.  
  
He was studying Keith's arms (Lance envied them, his own arms were practically noodles) when he saw _them_. Tiny little brown spots that dotted his shoulders. These weren't as prominent as the ones on his face, but they were just as cute. Lance had the sudden urge to kiss them, so he pulled Keith closer to him and pecked the small spots.  
  
Keith sighed and dog-eared the page he was reading before he shifted to look at Lance. He was smiling at Keith like the idiot he was. Keith just about cringed. He pushed Lance's skinny arm off his back and sat up. "All of my shirts are dirty. Give me one of yours."  
  
Lance gasped softly. With Keith sitting up, Lance now had a view of his chest and abs. This wouldn't have bothered him as much, but then he saw the skin stars sprinkled across his collarbone and chest. His eyes darted down to Keith's thick thighs. There were even skin stars all over the pale skin there. His eyes lingered on Keith's legs before he looked up at his face.  
  
Why did Keith have so many freckles? It wasn't like he ran the laps stark naked. Where did they come from?

After all of his ogling, it occurred to Lance that he hadn't answered Keith's question. He swallowed conspicuously before he blinked his eyes really fast, trying to make it look like he hadn't just been trying to figure out the origin of his boyfriend's plentiful skin stars. "A shirt?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Mm," Lance tapped his chin in thought then shook his head with a fiendish grin. "No."  
  
"What?" Keith frowned.  
  
"I said," Lance sat up, moving closer to Keith until he was practically face to face with him. "No." His arms snuck back around Keith's ample waist, and Keith gasped as Lance pulled him onto his lap (Keith's thighs engulfed Lance's slim legs).  
  
"...Why?"  
  
"I wanna look at you." He said simply, burying his face in the crook of Keith's neck, pressing a few kisses there. He smelled nice and sweet like soap and maybe shampoo? Lance didn't know what in the hell it was, but he loved it. He trailed across Keith's pale shoulder, kissing the golden spots again. This had to be in heaven.  
  
And then Keith started laughing (Lance would never get tired of hearing it).  
  
"What's funny?" Lance mumbled against the pasty skin of Keith's collarbone.  
  
"I get a couple more freckles and you go batshit crazy."  
  
Lance knew it was true, but he didn't care. He came up from Keith's neck and smiled.  
  
"I know."  
  
Then he leaned forward and pecked Keith's nose. Keith felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest. Lance was so sweet to him (whenever they weren't at each other throats) and sometimes he felt like he didn't deserve it.  
  
Lance started to get off the bed. "I'll get a shirt."  
  
Keith grabbed his wrist and tugged him back down. Lance looked at him confusedly. Keith's cheeks were red and he looked utterly embarrassed. Lance was starting to think that he'd done something wrong, but Keith spoke up.  
  
“I wanna look at you, too…”  
  
Lance could feel his stomach drop and his heart flutter. Was Keith really saying this to him? Keith-no-sappy-or-mushy-shit Kogane? It didn't seem likely. Lance half expected the real Keith to fall from the air, laughing and bitchslap him into next week. But when Lance reached out and grabbed Keith's hand (his small, veiny, sinewy, freckly hand), he knew without a doubt that Keith was real.  
  
Lance smiled that stupid, lopsided smile that made his eyes squinty. He hated how it looked, but he couldn't help it, Keith made him that giddy. He laughed and Keith eyes got huge.  
  
"Lance,” Keith said softly, “did Coran spike your drink with Nunvil?” At dinner, Allura weaseled the truth out of Coran and the truth was yes, he did have one glass too many of Nunvil before dinner. Pidge had totally called it.   
  
"No!" Lance smiled even bigger. "I'm fine. I'm just... happy."  
  
"Happy?"  
  
"'M'happy that I've got someone as great as you."  
  
Keith's eyes got even wider and he blushed the same shade as Pidge's sunburnt face. He chewed on his lower lip, avoiding eye contact. It was too cute.  
  
Lance lifted their entwined hands and kissed a freckle on Keith's knuckle. "I'm happy that I've got you, skin stars and all."  
  
Keith felt like his face was about to burn off. He hated that Lance knew exactly what to say to make him feel like he was the best guy in the world (when he was far from it). "Me too." He mumbled, looking up at Lance. As soon as he did, he wished he hadn't because Lance was staring at him with a look so sincere that he wanted to cry.  
  
Lance leaned down and pressed a kiss to the corner of Keith's mouth before he smiled widely. He let go of Keith's hand and sat back, his hand trailing along the edge of his shirt.  
  
"So. It's a show you want."  
  
"Oh my god." Keith exhaled with a smile. "Not when you say it like that."  
  
"How about," Lance leaned in closer, his eyes suddenly serious and his voice an octave lower, "a striptease?"  
  
Keith covered his mouth and laughed (he even snorted a little, it was adorable). Lance did too, his head fell gently against Keith's and Lance snuck a kiss to his lips. Keith kissed him back lightly. "And for the record, I don't need any of that." He whispered. "Just you." He tugged Lance's shirt up and off.  
  
Lance was breathless as Keith's surprisingly gentle hands cascaded over his tan skin. Full lips found that beautiful mole on his caramel collarbone and kissed it gingerly. Lance sighed contently, wrapping his arms around Keith's hips.

The next few moments were foggy and they'd somehow ended up under the blankets (probably because neither of them had a shirt on), lying on their sides, facing one another. Their arms were wrapped around each other and their legs entangled. Lance had obviously gotten sleepy because his eyes were droopy and he was speaking out of his head. “Okay, I have to tell you something really weird.”

“What?”

“Sometimes I wonder if you stencil your freckles on with makeup just because I like them a lot.”

“Go to bed, Lance.” Keith giggled.

“Do you?”

“No!”

“Not even a little?”

“I swear, I’ll kick you out of this bed.”

Lance grinned and pecked Keith’s nose. “I’m just messin’ with ya.”

Keith sighed and lay his head against Lance's flat chest. Lance's steady heartbeat had started to lull him to sleep. He closed his eyes and started to doze off when he heard Lance whispering above him. "Keith? Are you sleep?" He sounded serious all of the sudden.  
  
"No." He looked up at Lance. He wore an unreadable expression. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I just..." Lance sucked in a breath. "I’ve got this weird feeling and I don't know what it is, but I think it has something to do with you and maybe your freckles, and I'm—"  
  
Keith cupped his hand over Lance's mouth. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"I... I think I'm in love with you."  
  
Keith swore his heart stopped and the only thing he could do was cover Lance's mouth with his hand again. It confused him that someone could love him of all people. _Him_ , a pushy little imp who was shut-off and closed-up.  And Lance was the complete opposite. He wore his heart on his sleeve and was always telling how things made him feel. Keith could only dream of being that open to people.  
  
And Keith decided that he didn’t want to be shut-off anymore; he wanted to let Lance know how he felt. He uncovered Lance's mouth and kissed him softly. "I think I love you too."  
  
Lance sighed in a relieved manner. "Oh, good, I thought you were gonna go nuts and strangle me or somethin'."  
  
Keith snorted. "Shut up." He kissed Lance's chin and then the mole on his collarbone again. "'M'not that heartless."  
  
"That's questionable. Didn't you shove Pidge into a wall the other day?"  
  
"Okay, Pidge was in my way and was being a total ass _and_ I was really hungry. Besides, that doesn't even top what you did today with Shiro."  
  
"Um, Shiro was _the ass_ , actually, and I was just doing that to make you laugh. I like hearing it." Lance grinned.  
  
Keith blushed. "Thank you."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For caring enough to want to make me laugh."  
  
Lance kissed his forehead. “Thank _you_ for making me this happy.”

Keith could feel the corners off his mouth turning up as drifted off, listening to the sound of Lance's heartbeat.

**Author's Note:**

> the fluff is lethal.


End file.
